Cricket has given Karun Nair his chance, it is now up to him to take it

December 10, 2022, winter has just started gripping different parts of the country when Karun Nair, one of only two men to have ever scored a triple ton for India in Test cricket, tweets something.

It is not one of those tweets that qualifies as a sponsored post, or one of those tweets celebrating a massive achievement or reminiscing about how good things were, once upon a time.

It is a simple tweet – a tweet asking for cricket – the game that placed him on a pedestal alongside the great Virender Sehwag – to give him another chance.

For a player who is still active, that seemed a little bit off, considering he would, at some stage, get a chance of some sort. What he actually might have meant was a chance in the big time – on perhaps the international stage, or as it turns out, in the IPL.

To say that Karun’s career has been topsy-turvy would probably be an understatement. Karun managed an India gig after years of heavy domestic run-scoring. He was part of the Karnataka team that dominated the circuit, yet, it felt that his national call-up was the longest overdue among those domestic stalwarts.

He then became only the second Indian batter after Sehwag to register a triple century in Test cricket but was dropped in the very next game. He only played a handful of Tests thereafter before being discarded altogether.

Since 2021, he has not played the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Karnataka either. He has only played eight IPL games since the start of the 2019 season and has never really been looked upon as a T20 operator.

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Karun Nair will replace KL Rahul in IPL 2023

But now, here he is, replacing KL Rahul in the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) squad, and hoping to fill that gaping hole. Based on how his career has unfolded up until his point, it only seems fitting that he will take to this team like a glove and flourish, right?

While that may seem a bit wishful, there is some cricketing logic and wisdom to back it up. Even before getting injured, there were moans and groans around Rahul’s strike, especially as those around him threatened to blow any and every bowling attack to smithereens.

Karun might have a middling strike rate in the IPL overall (127.75). When he opens, though, he morphs into a different beast altogether, striking at 141.29. He also averages 31.93 as an opener and has scored 479 runs, indicating that he knows how to score runs and score them quickly.

Karun could also play the anchor role if LSG want him to, and unlike Rahul, he will come into the IPL without any baggage. If anything, he might just be overly grateful for the opportunity that he has received and might bat with an uncluttered mindset – something that has worked superbly for Ajinkya Rahane – another cricketer not perceived as a T20 superstar – to thrive this season.

But leave all those numbers aside for a moment, and just think about this from Karun’s perspective. Here he is, back in the big time, just like he wanted to. That he has this opportunity in an IPL season that has already witnessed its fair share of redemption stories, only makes you wonder if Karun will be the latest to add himself to that list.

Of course, it will be unfair if either Karan Sharma or Manan Vohra are dropped after a solitary outing – that too on a turning track against the Chennai Super Kings. But if Karun was good enough to be drafted in as a replacement, he surely must also be good enough to start for LSG.

This IPL has been all about franchises trusting players that, in the perception of many, were over the hill and past their best. That narrative has been attached to Karun for a while now, without really going deep into what actually caused it.

All of that, though, could stop. If Karun makes the most of this opportunity that he sought so dearly from the game. This sport is many things. One thing it is not is ungrateful. It remembers what any and every cricketer has done in the past, and that roulette has now thrust Karun into the deep end.

Cricket is a funny, old game. Now, Karun can make it even crazier.